W10M User Reviews and Impressions!

[IceCrush]

User Reviews and First Impressions of Windows 10 for Phones

I feel like the unification will definitely come each build....my nervousness is that it will be unified to an approach that doesn't best suite how I like to use my phone. And hey, I'm the most important customer right? :wink: But seriously...when you try not to think about it, and just "use" the device...it is like night and day how much you miss the "old" way. This coming from a guy who typically embraces change (but not blindly). It doesn't feel like a "oh, I just have to get used to this new way of doing things", it legitimately feels like, "what a minute, this doesn't make sense...this isn't as easy to use"

Fingers crossed, that feedback is received and we get some happy compromise.

Exactly, like how they changed the dialer and the mail apps, i feel like "There sure was some way to get UI more functional without blind copying like that, those top buttons suck!" I am also a person who embrace the change, but its just doesn't feel right .. hope they see the feedback :/

 

[wetworker]

Re: 24 Hrs with Win10 on a Lumia 830

How is the music app?

 

[rangerdogy]

Re: 24 Hrs with Win10 on a Lumia 830

No change yet on the music app.

 

[MDK22]

Re: 24 Hrs with Win10 on a Lumia 830

I would hope they threw ALL the different options for menus @ this build & eventually will settle on a common theme, throughout.
Personally, I prefer the ellipsis, @ the bottom, right - I've gotten used to it & it works. Though rocking my L1520 with one hand is trying.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Re: Windows 10 for Phones Reviews and Impressions

I am glad I did not do this on my main phone (1520.3). Thanks to MS for not making it available yet.

I installed the beta on a 635 backup phone and liked what I saw except for one very strange omission. Strange because the capabilities its based on are all still there just apparently no way to turn on this must have feature. And that is the option to have the phone offer to read incoming texts and dictate a response. I have converted people to WP so they could do hands free texting in their cars. And I listen to and respond to many texts every day with my phone sitting on a table a dozen or more feet away. Obviously the speech to text works (Cortana) and obviously text to speech works because narrator does. So I have to assume someone forgot to add a way to turn on hands free text reading and response in the WP10 beta. I spent hours trying to find it and if its there finding it is harder than any game I've played. Hard to imagine how lack of such a key feature of WP8 slipped by the internal testing.

Sure it will be in the next update.

 

[bschiav]

Re: Windows 10 for Phones Reviews and Impressions

I am glad I did not do this on my main phone (1520.3). Thanks to MS for not making it available yet.

I installed the beta on a 635 backup phone and liked what I saw except for one very strange omission. Strange because the capabilities its based on are all still there just apparently no way to turn on this must have feature. And that is the option to have the phone offer to read incoming texts and dictate a response. I have converted people to WP so they could do hands free texting in their cars. And I listen to and respond to many texts every day with my phone sitting on a table a dozen or more feet away. Obviously the speech to text works (Cortana) and obviously text to speech works because narrator does. So I have to assume someone forgot to add a way to turn on hands free text reading and response in the WP10 beta. I spent hours trying to find it and if its there finding it is harder than any game I've played. Hard to imagine how lack of such a key feature of WP8 slipped by the internal testing.

Sure it will be in the next update.

Yes, you gain significantly less in this preview build than the features you lose. I suspect, because of how early this build is, they're focus is on stability in the processes running under the surface. The stuff we don't "see". And then some testing and feeling out of a few other key changes. I hope the release builds are frequent even if the changes are minor build to build...I'd prefer that versus just a few builds with huge changes in between.

 

[bschiav]

Re: Windows 10 for Phones Reviews and Impressions

A few updates in the OP.

Also, here's some screenshots of where the pivots and gestures have been replaced with "buttons"

Dialer and what I called the "messy search results" from Cortana. Gestures have no effect on these screens, you have to tap the buttons or titles.


This is the new dialer...it looks "incomplete" to me

 

[svknet]

My first impressions for W10P TP-
• Start Screen now has background Wallpaper. However Transparent Tile is not available.
• More Tile size options are available. Now we have large tiles consisting of 4 medium size tiles, as well as Tall tile which is of 2 medium size tiles placed vertically. But I observed it working only for People tile.
• App list background is transparent and can display Wallpaper.
• Options for Apps in App list have grey background.
• New installed Apps are on Top.
• Clock App is replaced with Alarms which has option to set Alarm, but now also include World Clock, Stopwatch and Timer. So no need to install separate apps for these features now.
• Settings Menu now has categories like System, Devices, Personalization, etc.
• Keyboard is provided with Virtual Stick to move cursor inside text. But it appears only in some app.
• Phone dialer is now sleek and number buttons are smaller then earlier. Not sure if this is because I am using high resolution phone or it will be for all phones. But I would have preferred bigger buttons for dial-pad.

 

[Harshv61]

The UI lag,jittering in homescreen is due to background wallpaper. Removing background, the scrolling is snappy. Improvement in battery life as well.

 

[bschiav]

The UI lag,jittering in homescreen is due to background wallpaper. Removing background, the scrolling is snappy. Improvement in battery life as well.

I actually have no lag in my home screen after a hard reset, with the background. What device are you using?

 

[bschiav]

Adding the following to the OP:

• ​Bug - I sometimes get a flash of another screen when waking up my phone; i.e. this morning the notifications screen flashed before being shown my lock screen.
• Significantly reduced battery life. I typically would charge my phone every other night. My battery is now dead in one day, off of the charger around 7:30am, and dead by around 8-9pm.
• I do like the new start screen background option, and am happy to hear that the old transparent tile option will also be back in a future build. It's nice to have that user choice to personalize the device.
• I don't play many games, but noticed that Age of Empires: Castle Siege fails to launch in this build. I have not had any other issues in my other commonly used apps.
• Settings Visual - Organizing the settings is nice, but it needs some improvement visually. I would prefer the icons to be more in line with the current design language (unless that's changing?). They currently have a "wireframe" like look, whereas other icons in the OS are heavier. Currently it's only shown in black with a cyan accent. I'm assuming the user theme would take over in later builds.

 

[anon(9002916)]

Would I be forced to update my phone to Windows 10?

 

[Mischo]

I have new L830 since 3 days, bud I have no win 10 build in insider app,
is it possible, insiders program to be shut down for a limited time?

 

[bschiav]

Would I be forced to update my phone to Windows 10?

I don't think you would be, just like you don't have to update to 8.1. But even if you don't like "some" of the changes...it will probably still be the right move as features are added. Over time the feature gap between 8.1 and 10 will widen, at some point it will be enough to tip the scales even if you don't prefer the UX.

I'm betting there's a bunch of features we still haven't heard about yet. And we still haven't played with a cohesive OS from a UX standpoint...which could sway opinions on how things are evolving.

 

[TB1701]

Re: 24 Hrs with Win10 on a Lumia 830

If you use Outlook.com does it still limit the attachment file types?

Overall it looks like this test release is more of an alpha test. Does anyone know what the general plan for WP10 looks like? It does not sound like MS knows what the public wants for the next release of WP.

 

[jomarr]

It's really buggy. I'm going to revert back to 8.1

Although I do like the new homescreen.

 

[Alessandro Dut]

My impressions on Windows 10 for Phones:

Its just a bugged Windows Phone 8.2, didnt address MANY things we were lacking.

For once, music control is still the WORST among mobile OS, its exactly like Windows Phone 8.1, why cant we have a music control in action center?
The OS is the SAME as Windows Phone 8.1, doesnt seem to be more integrated with other devices at all.

Sadly, i had the same disappointment with Windows 10 for desktop (and tablet). Looked like a bugged Windows 8.1, few innovations and messy.

Microsoft wont go anywhere this way...

 

[Alfa Kapa]

It is way to early to make a complete review of W10TP.
Nothing is final, they are just adding stuff and showing us a glimpse
of what it may look in future releases/final product.
So in build 10051:

-I really like what I see by now, especially the on screen navigation buttons!
(for an unknown reason I really like them)

-I'm not sure about hamburger menus,
as I would like to see the ability to either press the hamburger,
or swype from the left to right in order to show the menu.

-The new maps application is looking pretty nice so far.
If they combine Here drive + maps + transport , be smooth scrolling and fast it will be TOP NOTCH!

-I also like the long press back action,
where the opened apps are closer to each other,
making scrolling through them easier, also there are more apps shown than before!
(currently slightly slow but this is expected)

-MS has stated that 10056 build for PC's will be the last which comes with new futures,
the next months they will mainly focus on bugs, crushes and speed ,
so I really want MS to find a solution for killing the ''Resuming'' and ''Loading'' screens once and for all.

Anyway I really like what I see by now!

 

[P4geD0wn]

at svknet

You only listed the features. So what is your impression or opinion on them?

 

[Donald Oaf]

Downloaded yesterday. Initial thoughts
- Email is much less usable (menu on top, live tile doesn't work, forces me to combine all accounts into one, doesn't allow two different outlook.com accounts)
- Hey Cortana no longer works. It did let me do a voice retrain, but it no longer actually functions for me. I suspect this is a glitch, I don't know if it's intrinsic to this build or just me
- "Design language" seems less usable. It's kinda like the old days of Windows Mobile in versions where they tried to mimic the desktop experience. Menus on the top of a Lumia 1520 screen are NOT as useful as menus on the bottom. Likewise, the pivots and such that made WP 8.1 more useful are mostly dead.

So far, I'm unimpressed and more than slightly worried at the direction this is going. I like the concept of universal apps and better cross-compatibility between phone and desktop. But Windows 10 seems to be making my phone less useful and less usable (some changes I'll get used to; others will increasingly bother me over time).